GA volunteers get to work at 1U1

Recreational Aviation Foundation President Bill McGlynn “considers getting to fly into Moose Creek a real privilege,” as do many of his fellow aviation enthusiasts.

So when he learned that there was a volunteer opportunity that he and his fellow pilots were uniquely suited to help with at the Moose Creek USFS Airport (1U1) in Idaho, he jumped at the opportunity, according to officials with the U.S. Forest Service.

At a regional level review of backcountry Forest Service airstrips, McGlynn told Forest Service employees that Kodiak Aircraft in Sand Point, Idaho, had offered 50 hours of Kodiak time to help transport materials. After a bit of discussion, RAF and U.S. Forest Service officials determined that a project building a fence at the Moose Creek backcountry airport was a good fit.

Once the project was identified, McGlynn began to mobilize.

Using a cost-sharing agreement with the Forest Service, he purchased posts and rails from a Montana company and had them transported to the Missoula airport. Minuteman Aviation donated its maintenance ramp at the airport for a week so they could perform preparatory work.

Because Moose Creek is in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, where only hand tools can be used, the volunteers needed to drill and perform other powered mechanical work before the airlift began.

With the help of six volunteers, they were ready to start hauling the new fence to Moose Creek only a day later, Forest Service officials report.

Unfortunately, the volunteers hit a snag: The Kodiak was too small for the 10-1/2 foot fence rails. Luckily, the USFS Region 1 aviation team, led by Shane Bak, was able to step in and help with the service’s Short Sherpa that was able to transport the longer rails. The fence building work began on schedule Oct. 13, 2023.

The first of 20 volunteers, which included people from Indiana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and the Pacific Northwest, flew to Moose Creek to start removing the old fence and assembling new jack-leg fence.

“It wasn’t hard at all for me to recruit people to come help out here when they found out this place needs work and they want to give back,” McGlynn explained.

In fact, he intentionally limited recruitment: “We didn’t go broadly asking for people to sign up because we thought we’d get too many volunteers.”

The process of putting up the fence “felt like an orchestra with everyone doing what they felt most comfortable doing and were best at,” he added. “The fence went up so fast that we had to slow down because materials weren’t coming fast enough to keep up with us.”

In just four and a half days, McGlynn’s team installed 1,260 feet of replacement fence and got all the old, deteriorated fence out and organized in piles to be burnt later. Just 1,000 feet of replacement fence remains to be installed, according to Forest Service officials.

The historic Moose Creek Ranger Station is the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness hub supporting youth development in resource stewardship, backcountry recreation, outfitter and guide operations, scientific research, wildland fire management, and wilderness values, officials explained.

“RAF’s commitment to Moose Creek Ranger Station goes well beyond solely benefitting recreational aviation. Their work supports the wide variety of work we do, and we are fortunate to have them as partners,” said Moose Creek District Ranger Ron Tipton.